We have what you would call, a family bedroom. The entire household sleeps in our room. I like it this way. It's nice to have everyone in one room. But, it does make it pretty cramped seeing as it's a teeny tiny room, and we have a king sized bed, the crib, the dog bed, various pieces of furniture, and a big screen TV in there. The crib is on my side of the bed. And the dog bed is on my hubby's side of the bed. Convenient seeing as I do most of the night time feedings, and my hubby does most of the night time puppy pee let-outs. Growly Bear still wakes up almost every night to eat. The dogs hardly ever have to pee in the night. I think my hubby has the better deal....Tonight was one of those nights where our child did not want to go to sleep. I would lay with her on our bed until she fell asleep, and then, when placed in her crib, she'd scream at the top of her lungs as if she was getting poked with a sharp stick. Seeing as we don't do the "cry it out" thing in our house, this led to lots of cuddles and kisses, and more time laying on our big bed. I kept hearing Samuel L. Jackson's voice in my head... (Don't know what I'm talking about? Check it out here.)We all know that moment of terror on fussy nights, once you've FINALLY got your precious little darling to go the %#@! to sleep by rocking/cuddling/holding them, and then you realize you've got to put them down! So, you hold your breath and pray to all that is holy that your sweet child stays asleep as you lay them down. And then you stand there, completely frozen, still not breathing, arms poised above them in case you hear them suck in that lung full of air in order to belt out a bloodcurdling scream as they sit bolt upright and glare at you like you're the worst parent in the entire world. This was totally me tonight! I had her asleep 3 separate times, and she promptly woke and screamed bloody murder each time I attempted to lower her into her cozy crib. This went on for about an hour before I gave up and declared it Dear Hubby's turn!After about 20 minutes I heard him top-toeing down the hall. Victory!Apparently, she started to wake up as soon as he tried to leave the room though, so he got her to go back to sleep by rubbing her little back. When she was out, he said there was no way he was risking walking out of the room and waking her up again. So instead of attempting to walk around the foot of the bed, and out the door like usual, he said he lay down silently on the bed, and rolled across until he reached his side. He then lowered himself down, and landed on the dog bed on all fours like a stealthy ninja! From there, he crawled along the floor, out the door on his hands and knees until he was a safe distance away from the bedroom, and he could stand up and walk away (like a normal person!).Of course, this sent me into a fit of giggles as he was telling me about this after I asked him why he was covered in dog hair. While he did see the humor in it, he informed me to settle down, becasue if I woke her up, I had to put her back to sleep.So far so good, but wish me luck for the rest of the nigh! Hopefully she'll sleep peacefully.Love and Hugs

I've mentioned before that I live in a small town. I'm talking really small. Like so small probably most of you can't even comprehend where I'm coming from!When I say small, I mean itty bitty. I'm talking a population of under 1200... in fact, it's probably much closer to 1000.There's no Walmart. There's no theater, or pool, or fast food. There's no chain stores. No car wash. No nothin like that!There's a grocery store, and a couple hotels, a few restaurants and a hardware store. There's a bank, an insurance office, a furniture store, a clothes store. We have a post office, a hospital a school and a library. Oh, and of course a bar and a liquor store, can't forget the booze spots. Actually, as I'm trying this, I'm realizing there are TWO liquor stores... (you can see what's important around here.) But that's about it!I was born and raised here. So, I'm not exaggerating when I say I know almost everyone by name. And they know me too! This makes my blog kinda fun, becasue on three separate occasions last week I had three separate people come up to me and say they are reading it and enjoying it, and two of them said they love the recipes! So that's fun! One lady even told me she thought of me while making granola bars a couple weeks back when she actually got the number of bars that the recipe said she would! (For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you know why that's funny. For those who don't, it's becasue of this post.) Some days it's a little hard to live in such a small town. Everyone knows everything about everyone. Word travels fast no matter what the situation! Plus, you all know my love for Walmart, and sometimes I wish that I could just aimlessly wander the isles buying inexpensive things that I don't really need. And sometimes I would literally KILL (or at least almost kill) for a Teen Burger and some Poutine and a big Chocolate Shake!But then there's other occasions where living here is pretty special. Like our weekly Monday morning shop always includes a visit, and a banana for Growly Bear, with our friendly produce man. And the entire grocery store (and community!) knows her by name, has watched her grow, and has enjoyed each and every milestone with us. Pretty sure grocery shopping is the highlight of Growly Bears week!There are amazing programs for moms and little ones to get together and play and visit. And what makes it even more fun, is each of us has watched and followed everyone in the groups pregnancies, and has know the kids/babies right from the start! So it makes it a pretty wonderful environment for the mommas and the kids.And then there's an event like we had this weekend, where I realize all over again what an incredibly community we live in.There was a "Piggy Party" on Saturday night. A full pig was slowly smoked to juicy perfection, and people came from far and wide, bringing amazing food to share, and to enjoy the deliciousness. Along with salads, buns, appies, pizza, and incredibly desserts, there was fresh salmon and fresh venison. The coolest part being, all of the meat was raised, caught, and butchered locally! We truly live in the land of plenty.After our large feast, the live music started, and everyone danced the night away.All this was incredible in it's self, but what struck me as so wonderful, was the happy little kids that were everywhere! I realized how fortunate we all are to live in a place that's safe! A place where kids can run, and laugh, and be free, and be, well, KIDS!My little party animal had a blast! She's my little social butterfly. More then happy to visit with everyone. Be held and chat with people she'd never "met", but who have known her since the start! She didn't make strange once! Just soaked up the love and attention from all who gave it. And for those who failed to notice her, she was more then happy to crawl on over and introduce herself. It was during all this that I truly understood what that famous old proverb really meant! "It takes a whole village to raise a child." This village certainly is raising my child! And I think they are doing a pretty awesome job.She ended up making a new best friend, who danced with her for hours. She met him once before. Last year, when she was no more then 3 or 4 months old. There's no way she remembered him from that! But, she decided he was pretty darn cool, and chose him as her dance partner for the evening. She even lasted until 11pm, THREE hours past her bed time. There are times that I think I'd like to move someplace bigger. There are days when I feel like tomorrow would be a good time to think seriously about doing that! I know one day we are going to want to provide more opportunities for Growly Bear. But for now, I think this is the perfect place to be.So thank you to my amazing village, who's helping raise this incredible little individual! And thank you to all the wonderful people who make up our "home". And a special thank you to Growly Bear's awesome dance partner, for making a little girls night.Love and Hugs

The piggy smoker

Delicious fresh salmon

Mmmm

Great fire pit!

*drool*

Checking out the ones that are going to feed us for the winter!

Please don't forget to vote! And if you haven't done so already, "like" us on Facebook

Although there are A LOTTA assholes... I kinda think today, for me at least, it's PMS.That's another fun little fact no one ever told me about when I was pregnant and then breast feeding. Along with weird stomach skin, and no memory, and random hairs, and phantom baby kicks (which I've talked about before) also comes horrible postpartum PMS. While I enjoyed 9 extremely calm and emotionally level months while growing Growly Bear, and then another 10 calm and emotionally level months while proving her food, no one warned me that after she weaned, my body would go into PMS overdrive and I would hate everyone and everything for about 4 days outta the month, every month, for an undisclosed amount of time. When I was talking to my doctor about this a couple months ago, he joked that for my well being and for the sake of my marriage, maybe I should just be on a constant cycle of pregnant and then breast feeding for as long as possible, and then, repeat! Seeing as my husband would be more then thrilled with a baseball team sized family, I'm sure he'd be OK with this "suggestion".And sometimes, when I'm in the middle of a 4 day hate on for the entire world, it seems like it might not be such a bad idea to me too!The funnest part is, I'm such a dolt, I don't even realize I'm PMSing until I'm well into it. You'd think I would pick up on the signs. For instance - while watching Big Brother the other night, the "Have Nots" for the week were given only pudding and pork rinds to snack on. I thought to myself "Hell yeah! I could go for some pudding and pork rinds right now!" Really? Ew!Then, a couple nights ago, my husband had the audacity to heat up some left over Extra Creamy Mac & Cheese. Don't know why, but the sound of him rummaging around in the kitchen was pretty much the most annoying sound in the entire world to me at that moment.But, seeing as I'm not knocked up, and not breast feeding, I guess I'm stuck in a PMS rut for at least another day or two, so, I'll just sit here wanting to eat everything in the entire house, and wishing I could kick someone in the shin just becasue I think it might be kind fun right now.You've had fair warning... don't poke the bear! On a happy note thought... It's FIVE months till Christmas! Yaaahoooo!!!!!And on an exciting note, my blog has had OVER 5,000 hits! Thanks for all the visits guys!Off to gnaw on something chocolatey now! Love and Hugs

Welp, we've turned another new page! And it has to do with food - as so many things in my life do!Growly Bear now has such an awesome appetite and stomach capacity, that it is necessary to cook her her own chunk of whatever deliciousness we are eating that night. I used to be able to share my chicken breast/pork chop/fish steak/hamburger patty, etc with her, and we would both end up with enough dinner that we were both full and satisfied at the end of the meal.That's no longer the case! The last week and a half, I've been hungry still after dinner, and I couldn't figure out why! Then, the last couple nights, I've started paying attention to how much of my food she's getting, and it's a lot!I don't know where this child of mine puts it!Maybe THAT'S the real reason why I've lost 12 lbs in the past month... maybe it's not the Body By Vi after all.... (Joking! It's totally the Body By Vi!)So today, when I was portioning out the meat I'd bought in bulk into meal size freezer bags for the week, each bag of chicken thighs got 5 instead of 4. And each bag of chicken breasts got 3 instead of 2. Same with pork chops. And the other night, when my hubby was cutting up a beautiful, huge, fresh spring salmon that was delivered to our door by a friendly fellow firefighter, he made sure to have some smaller "Growly Bear Sized Steaks" mixed in with the great big ones for me and him.Seeing as poor little Growly Bear has been feeling a little under the weather with nasty teething pain for the past few days, I decided to make her some yummy comfort food with a couple of her favorite dishes. And what's her most favorite thing right now? Cheese! So of course there had to be lotsa that!So, last nights menu consisted of Crispy Parmesan Chicken, Extra Creamy Mac & Cheese, and broccoli. Mmm-mmm-mmm!And yes, she's got her very own little chicken breast.Hope you enjoy the recipe!Love and Hugs

Combine Mayonnaise with cheese and seasoning in medium bowl. Arrange chicken on baking sheet. Sprinkle with garlic powder. Evenly distribute the cheese mixture over the top of the breasts, and smear to cover completely. Sprinkle with bread crumbs.

So, I haven't written in quite some time about what I freak show I am. You may be thinking that it's because I've finally gotten my $hit together, and am no longer such an unorganized mess. Well my friends, you're wrong. I still am!I think this picture proves it....

In my defense, we don't ALWAYS live this way. There is a reason it looks like this.And the reason is... I had a mini bit of a freak out!Today, all day, I've been working on booking this crazy awesome trip to Mexicxo, which happens to take place over New Years. It will be amazing and fun, but seeing as we live in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, getting "off the rock" isn't easy, and the flights are all over the place, and needed to be booked in bits and pieces. And I was trying to book exactly the same dates and flights as our friends so that we can all travel together. And I was a stress ball by hour 6 on the laptop trying to make it all work.Things were finally kinda under control and looking good this evening though.And then I realized, I still haven't sent off the application for Growly Bear and her Daddy's passports! Ahk!My husband is even worse then me (yes! it's possible!) at keeping his important documents and cards together. This mess you see above, was me trying to find his Birth Certificate and SIN card. I KNEW they had been in that open coffee table drawer (along with his wedding ring, cuz that's apparently the place to keep precious/valuable/important items that your life depends on, and that you can never EVER loose!?) I'd seen them, and taken note of it a couple weeks ago knowing that I would have to send the Birth Certificate, and a copy of the SIN card, away with the passport application. Except tonight, when I went to get them, they were gone! Seriously, nowhere to be found.So, I whipped around the living room like the whirling, swearing, hot mess that I am, and I turned things upside down. Literally.Turns out, after about 15 of this show (which, by the way, my husband found quite amusing as he quietly watched a safe distance away from the dinning room) I discovered that he'd stashed them in an empty camera case for safe keeping, not told me, and then promptly forgotten that he'd ever done such a thing when I asked him 25 times "What the hell happened to them!!!"Mmm-hmmm.So, tonight, I'm taking a deep breath and thanking god that the travel part is booked! And I'm thinking ahead to all those Margaritas and Pina Colads that I'll be drinking while lounging in the sun in just 5 short months!My husband and I have looked at each other about 100 times in the course of the past 2 hours and said "Guess what! We're going to MEXICO!" (and also another secret undisclosed location that will be a Christmas surprise for my girlfriend's daughters on Christmas morning, so we won't talk about that yet so that there won't accidentally be a slip up and have her girls find out some how.)I'm going to go have a little wind down time now, and try to clear my brain so that I will hopefully be able to sleep tonight!Love and Hugs

So you know how sometimes you just have the Perfect Day? Well, Sunday was one of those days!The sun was out and HOT for the 5th day in a row - for us, that must be a record!We declared it a Beach Day, and packed our stuff, and ran away for the day!

You'd think we were leaving for a week!

I've always wondered what it would be like to live somewhere hot and fabulous like Hawaii, or Florida, or California. Welp, I kinda think it would be like our day that we had on Sunday! Except maybe our day was even a little better, becasue there wasn't anywhere near the amount of people that I always see in photos from those places!

Each one of those people you see were part of our group! We had the beach to ourselves. Ahhh. Paradise!

We ate, and swam and played. Flew kites and built sand castles. We drank beers and lounged in the sun. The only sounds were the waves and the bids and kids laughter. It was amazing!The highlight for me though, was taking Growly Bear for her first ever swim in the Pacific Ocean!!!

Clearly, she loved it!We finished off the day with a delish dinner at my parents house, out on their deck.

Hard to take a view like that!

Other the what I think is the worst sun burn of my life, it's was my favorite day in a long time.Thank god summer decided to grace us with her presence, finally! I was about to loose it!Love and Hugs

My child is sweet and adorable and perfect in every way, of course. But I swear to God, she’s got a 6th sense. When I really want her to nap at a certain time because I have an appointment or something, which I’ve planned so that it WON’T interfere with naptime, she’ll decide that actually, she’s NOT going to nap at her regular time that day. Instead, she’d rather be tired and miserable and throw a fit just when it’s time to go. (This has happened on more than one occasion!) Or when I need to work the next morning, that’s when she decides she’s going to wake up at 1am and want to party till the wee hours of the morning. She NEVER did this as an infant, but since I’ve come back to work three days a week, she does it about twice a month. And it’s NEVER on non-work nights, it’s always on a night where I have to work early the next morning. I think she’s punishing me… Or, when there’s a show on I REALLY want to watch (like the season premiere of Big Brother! Cuz we all know about my love for trashy reality TV!) she decides that there’s no way she’s going to go to sleep at 8:00pm like usual. Instead she’s going to scream her little face off until I go in there and lay with her for an hour and half while she talks to me. And no, it can’t be daddy, no way! It HAS to be mommy! I’ve also discovered, since she has a building vocabulary and is crazy mobile, that she just might be a little rotter, and I might have my work cut out for me in future years! She tests me constantly lately! She’s cheeky, and stubborn, and has a wicked sense of humor, and I wouldn’t change her for anything in the entire world. As she was racing around the living room last night getting into E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. and pausing only to bust out into random dance moves here and there, and then laughing at herself because she thinks she’s pretty darn funny, my hubby and I were watching her in awe, thinking about what a difference there is from this time last year! She ate and slept and pooped a year ago, and that was about it. Now, she exploring, and talking and amazing us every single day. What a fun stage we’re at! We’re hoping to go for our first swimming-at-the-beach adventure tomorrow afternoon seeing as summer is finally here, and it’s insanely gorgeous and hot, and I’ve been hearing from so many people how nice and warm the ocean is right now! Love and Hugs

So, if you're friends with me on Facebook, you will have seen I've embarked on a new "eating plan". If you've been with me on my blog from the beginning, you'll remember that we went on a high protein "eating plan" in January, which resulted in me and me house smelling permanently like bacon.I really want to get healthy. I haven't felt good about me for a while. I haven't had much energy, and I just haven't felt like myself. After reading about one of my friends weight loss success in her blogCrafty, Healthy Mommy I decided it was time to get serious and do something about it too!I'm trying a different approach from what we did in January, and hopefully this time it works! The first week I lost 7 lbs. Last week, I lost 2 more. And I've also been lossing inches! I've been chatting about my progress so far (I'm in week 3) and I've had lots of people emailing me and asking me what I've been doing, so I decided to blog about it for anyone who's interested.I'm on a program called Body By Vi, and I'm taking part in the 90 Day Challenge. It's really very simple. Replace 2 meals a day (I'm doing breakfast and dinner) with the Body By Vi shakes (2 scoops of their shake mix, blended with milk, ice, fruit, and/or flavorings), and eat a reasonable dinner. (If you're interested, you can check out some of the shake recipes here.) You're allowed a couple sensible snacks a day (fruit, almonds, rice cakes, etc). Drink plenty of water. Stay active. Feel great!I get pretty nasty and a little mean when I'm hungry and so far, I haven't felt that way once! I actually feel better, and have more energy then I've had in months.I'm using SparkPeople to keep my calories in check. My goal is keep it within the 1200-1500 range every day. (I had noooo idea how many EXTRA calories I was consuming a day until I started tracking them!) My body seems to like that, and is responding well. My clothes are all of a sudden loose, and I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to sell all my smaller summer clothes that I thought I'd never fit into again! Oh well, guess this means shopping for new smaller clothes, which honestly, is better then fitting back into your old smaller clothes anyway.Hope you're all enjoying the sun!Love and Hugs

So, I woke up this morning, and discovered that my mother, while searching for costume ideas for our upcoming Family Reunion (yes! We get to dress up for the party! Fun hey?), somehow stumbled across a horrible photo of David Hasselhoff from many many moons ago, and for some reason, found it necessary to share it with all her facebook friends. In response, a friend found it necessary to post an equally disgusting photo.For some reason, my sick and twisted mind thought it would be fun to see what other "gems" were out there in Google land. So, I did a search, and thought it was only fair if I shared some of my faves with you all. Get your puke baggies ready, cuz here we go!

That photo that started it all!

My friend's response... Ewww!!!!

Then found these two.... Seriously, WTF?

More dogs?

Annnnd, another dog. What the hell is even going on here?

Guess he has a secret!

At least he has some clothes on here...

Bawhahah! I'd totally forgotten he's a "singer" too!

I saved the most recent for last. We all remember this little incident....

There, now we can all share the desire to stab our eyes our with a fork together! You're welcome.I'm quickly going to delete the file I just made called "Sexy David Hasselhoff" off my hard drive now, becasue the last thing I want is to die tomorrow, and have someone be looking at my laptop in a few weeks and have them discover, and then think that I had a weird infatuation with him! Ew!Love and Hugs!

I know I've shared this before, but it makes me ugly laugh every time I read it!

I've been lame again. I know. Completely M.I.A!Unfortunately, I haven't been feeling whitty or charming. I haven't had any cute stories to share. No delicious recipes for you to sample.I've been effing busy! As you all know, I went back to work at the beginning of June, and even though it's only three days a week, I'm still not completely into the swing of things.My house looks like it threw up all over it's self (Yes! Even more then it usually does!). There's always laundry and dishes and take out containers, becasue there's no way I'm making MORE of a mess then there already is in the kitchen when I get home at the end of the day. I don't know how all you full time work away from home mommas do it! You deserve a medal. And then a day at the spa. And then some chocolate and wine. Seriously!My Sunday so far has consisted of scrubbing the bathroom. Dishes. Floors. And 5, yes FIVE loads of laundry! And I'm pretty sure I still have at least one more to do by the end of the day. As you all know from my post from a few months back, I love my washing machine. It gave me a slight heart attack when it momentarily wouldn't turn on AGAIN when I went to put load #2 on this morning. I freaked out and called to my hubby, who replied that he thinks we better order a new one seeing as it's only a matter of time till this one packs it in for real. To which I replied, *super whiny voice* "But I DON'T WANNA!!!" There's WAY better things to spend like $600 on then a new washing machine. It could go to our trip account! Or buy fun things for Growly Bear that she doesn't really need. Or I could buy new clothes and shoes! (Personally, I vote for option #3).But, he might be right. Cuz ya'll know I will go into meltdown mode if my washing machine packs in in for realz one of these days.Anyway, I better get back at it.Hope you all are doing far more fantastic things with your Sunday then I am!Love and Hugs

Author

_

_I'm
an unorganized, wanna be neat freak. I love my husband and my baby
girl, jeans with the "comfort" waistband, online shopping, cheesy 80's
tunes and anything chocolate. On a good day I'm kinda awesome. On a bad
day, not so much.